Heroic fend off fnatic to book playoff spot in Lund

The highest-ranked team at the tournament had some trouble against the new fnatic roster, but came out on top this time around.

fnatic, who were forced to use Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg as a stand-in in place of their yet unknown fifth player, have been eliminated from Pinnacle Cup Championship after a loss to HEROIC, the tournament's favorites.

The game was a rematch of the opening round of the tournament, where it was fnatic who prevailed in a 16-14 win. This time they weren't able to upset the Danes, as HEROIC first won Mirage with a 16-14 scoreline after an impressive comeback by fnatic, who almost came back after being 15-6 down.

The series then moved to HEROIC's map pick of Overpass, which the Danes won 16-13 to book their place in the playoffs, where they will play against the winner of the match between Finest and Imperial.

The series started off with HEROIC looking dominant on the CT side of Mirage, as they quickly negated the pistol round win by fnatic and then limited the European combine to just three more rounds, winning the half 10-5.

The Danes started the second half where they ended the first, quickly racing to a 15-6 lead and with nine match points had thought they had the game in the bag. But fnatic didn't share that belief, winning round after round and clawing back at the deficit, stringing together eight rounds in a row. They got within one round of the Danes, but HEROIC made the most of their final match point and closed the game out 16-14 with a fast A play.

Next up was Overpass, the pick of the Danes. fnatic won the pistol, but were unable to build on their win as HEROIC quickly fought back. Armed with just a P250 and no armor, Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund was able to get two entries into the B site and get his team within two rounds of fnatic. The teams traded rounds all throughout the first half, with the game soon tied up at 6-6. At the interval it was the Danes who were ahead by the slimmest of margins.

HEROIC edged further ahead with a pistol round win and with René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen awakening at the start of the CT side, as he got 12 kills in the first four rounds of the half to put some distance between his team and fnatic. Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman converted a 2v5 post-plant situation on the B site and that gave their team a way back into the game.

The score was tied up at 12-12 by the 24th round, but soon after that, and with HEROIC breaking the five round streak of their opponents, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and his men hit match point. This time around, they needed just two tries to close out the map and series, which they did to secure a spot in the playoffs.